1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to communication systems, and more particularly to the presentation of information on a telephone appliance.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an incoming call is presented to a telephone appliance, it is known in the art to display call information (e.g. caller name and/or number) on the appliance. For example, a telephone display may be updated to provide Caller Line Identification (CLID) information that, in conjunction with softkeys, may be utilized to handle an incoming call. It is also known in the art to display CLID information based on device class of service (COS), when an incoming call is presented on a line appearance (ringing line). However according to the prior art, the presentation of CLID information on the telephone display is limited via call control to one incoming call regardless of the number of incoming calls to the telephone appliance (i.e. the telephone appliance always shows the most recent call that is still ringing), and is presented at a common display area (e.g. LCD display screen).
When more than one call is presented to the telephone appliance, the common display area is updated with the new call information. If the call is to another line appearance on the telephone appliance then, subject to system configuration, the new call information may replace the previous call information. Only call information relating to a single line appearance is presented to a user at a time, regardless of the number of calls being presented (or active) to the user's telephone.
In order to answer a previously presented call whose information has been updated by a more recent call, the user may select the earlier incoming call (or the recalling call, held call, etc.) based on flash rate and/or colour associated with the flashing line button for the previously presented call on the user's telephone, or by the relative importance of the directory number (DN) associated with the line button (if known by the user), and/or based on the user's recollection of call information that may have been displayed previously. Alternatively, call control may be configured to allocate priorities to different call types and to display call information based on relative priority. Also, it is known to provide a “ringing line select” feature that allows a user to go off-hook and have call control automatically determine which line to select.